Saturday, March 29, 2008

An unwanted election in Bhutan

The remote country of Bhutan (in Southeast Asia) as just become a democratic state, first elections (with an 80% turnout of all registered voters) and citizens are worried about what kind of effect this may have on their lives. A man was quoted as saying that, "democracy can be a good thing - we hope" and many voters  said they were casting a ballot - with a heavy heart - simply because this was the wish of their recently-abdicated ruler, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk.

This may be one example of how democracy aid and democratization may not work for or be accepted in all countries. 

-Emily

Friday, February 29, 2008

20th Debate: Reality Show or a Spinoff?

The presidential debates not only become personal, but most importantly, comical. This short article discusses a recent SNL skit that parodied the Democratic Party debates- "codifying" Obama, while harassing Clinton. 

The actual footage from the debate (87 minutes long) is posted with the article, as is a picture of the SNL skit, which you can view as short clip of on Youtube.com. 

-Emily

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

BBC Ends English Shortwave Service in Europe

Remapping media space? Listeners cut off by “desert, snow and sea” will no longer be able to hear the BBC shortwave transmissions in Europe. We all comprehend, or, at least, have an inkling as to how new technologies have made the old broadcasting venues obsolete. The only surprising thing in this article is that it took a mighty long time for the BBC to realize that it was blowing in the wind.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Mickey Goes to Washington

Here is a look at how corporations are contributing to national brand building. Courtesy of Disney!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Syria Blocks Facebook

This is an interesting, if short, article about how the Syrian government has blocked facebook because Isreali people were joining Syrian-based groups. This article is relevant to what we've been talking about in class pertaining to the fact that technology can be used to liberate and also to constrain.
-carrie

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Senate Moves to Shield Phone Companies on Eavesdropping

Yesterday, the Senate approved the President's "warrantless wiretapping program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans' International communications without a court warrant if they were suspected of having terrorist ties".

Isn't this just one more excuse from the government, to attack citizens personal privacy, while we are not even allowed to know what the Oval office is doing most of the time!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Art Theft in Zurich

Last Sunday in Zurich, four paintings were stolen from a private gallery in a quiet neighborhood. These four paintings came to an estimated value of about 163 Million USD. These painting were stolen in broad daylight by men wearing ski masks. Witnesses say that the robbers had Slavic accents when they spoke German. This is the second painting robbery in Switzerland in a week, the first was in Pfäffikon. The robbery in Zurich was considered to be one of the biggest ones in Europe, in terms of net worth.

An interesting part of the story that appealed to me is that all this plays on the fears of the Swiss. With the recent elections which hoped to oust non white immigrants from Switzerland, in hopes of lowering the crime rate. This has encouraged the fear of the Swiss that their country will become a destination for foreign criminals.